Martin Keown reveals advantage Arsenal may have over Liverpool in Premier League title race

Martin Keown believes that Arsenal’s tough opening run in the Premier League could actually prove to their advantage in the title race.

After a busy summer of recruitment, the Gunners will look to go one better in the league this season after three successive runners-up finishes.

Mikel Arteta’s side get their campaign underway away at Manchester United on Sunday, but it doesn’t get much easier in the following weeks for the north London side.

In their first six weeks, Arsenal also face trips to Liverpool and Newcastle United, while they also host Manchester City and Nottingham Forest before the end of September.

However, Keown is hopeful that his former side can see this run as a real opportunity to gain some early ground on their rivals while the season is young and teams aren’t up to full speed.

‘The first six games of the season – including Manchester United, Liverpool and Newcastle away, and Manchester City at home – are going to be key,’ Keown told BBC Sport.

‘But I am going to turn what might have been a negative for Arsenal into a positive, because Liverpool’s new players will be bedding in, City have had a reset and Newcastle have endured a difficult summer.

‘The title race is still going to be very close but if Arsenal and Viktor Gyokeres can click straight away, then the solid building blocks they need to be champions are already in place.’

Keown, though, has also stressed that the time for excuses was over for Arteta’s squad and insisted the Spaniard must end his five-year trophy drought at the club this season.

‘I think they [Arsenal] need to win trophies,’ he told talkSPORT.

‘You know, not to win trophies since 2020…Manchester United still managed to win more trophies than Arsenal since both those two great managers [Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger] have gone.’

‘One trophy for [Mikel] Arteta is not enough. He needs to put some trophies in the cabinet. So, that is an overriding factor, he has to become a winner now.’

Arteta, however, has been keen to temper expectations and suggested that this season’s title race could be Arsenal’s most challenging yet.

‘The competition in the league now is like nothing we’ve seen before,” Arteta tells Sky Sports News.

‘We all know that to win the Premier League you’re going to have to be absolutely excellent, the level that is going to be required is going to be something we haven’t experienced yet and we all want to win it.

‘The level of the managers, the consistency of the squads that have been together now for years, the way they increased their potential in the squads, the understanding between players, quality they have brought, for sure it’s going to be the most difficult.’

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